I'm replying to this post in the full editor, not the fast reply at the bottom of each page and it looks exactly the same as it did with the old software. All the formatting buttons [bold, italic, underline, adding a picture, adding a link, adding smilies] are horizontal across the top of the reply box (just like before).
When I look at the threads posted in the Ramble On forum, I see more than 4 topics. So I don't know why there's only 4 coming up for you, but it's not the software I don't think. I also don't see what button you pushed to reduce your text to only 2 lines. Maybe you can a screenshot or something? That way if it's something on your end, we can help fix it so that you have the same user experience everyone else does.